But it wasn’t just the major airlines that were grounded. Lockdown also forced all light aircraft pilots to stay on the ground, which hindered their ability to maintain their basic flying hour requirements.

The new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was launched during the midst of lockdown enabling aircraft enthusiasts and frustrated pilots to return to the skies virtually. SIRE’s Managing Director, Russell Cook, and Business Development Manager, John Leah, were two of those who invested in new special purpose-built gaming PCs so they could still enjoy their flying interests from the comfort of their own homes.

However, the global supply of graphic cards was affected by the global chipset shortage and impacted the graphical performance requirements for the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator leaving many virtual PC aviation fans unable to pursue their hobby. Russell and John were lucky to secure two NVidia Radeon RTX3090 Graphics Cards to complete the build of their new Flight Simulator VR platforms.

And it’s not just the stock of graphic cards which has been affected by lockdown transportation limitations. Throughout 2021, SIRE has encountered supply constraint issues with all their vendors of physical stock due to the global chipset shortages, which have been compounded by Brexit and the lack of transportation drivers.

SIRE’s procurement team have worked tirelessly with all their vendors and suppliers to ensure customer orders are met. They have continuously evaluated stock limitations to avoid minimal delay and disruption, often engaging new vendors for large scale projects and vendor cross-sell competition leading to unexpected savings for our customers.

To keep your business flying high, contact sales@sire.co.uk and discover how we can help.